Boonville Pirates wrestling coach Christian Stock knew his team would have its hands full with four open weight classes Tuesday night in the season opener against the Higginsville Huskers.

He was right. Although the Pirates would take the first match of the evening in the 138-pound weight class, with junior Rory Concannon winning by pin over Hunter Goring in 5:09, it was pretty much all Higginsville after that with the Huskers recording wins in nine out of 14 weight classes either by pin or forfeits for a 54-30 victory.

Stock said it you take away the four opens the Pirates actually would have split the match with Higginsville.

"I would like to have beat them head to head but with the youth and inexperience on the team I am happy with our performance," Stock said. "The other things we had going against us was the fact that Kyle Cook was not able to wrestle tonight because he was not able to reach 220 pounds according to the state guideliness until Wednesday. Rory Concannon was in the same point.

"Overall, I thought all of our guys wrestled really tough since some of them were wrestling their first match ever or first varsity match ever. Rory wrestled a really solid match against his opponent. Andrew Broyhill wrestled a good match as well coming off a year hiatus due to an injury. Halden Toomsen is also coming off a year ending injury last season as a freshman who was wrestling on the varsity squad. Brennan Hammers started off the season right with a pin, so I look for a lot of leadership this season out of him and Cook."

Although Concannon's match set the tone for Boonville, it was short-lived as Higginsville came back with wins in five out of the next six matches to go up by a score of 30-12.

At 145, junior Dylan Snapp lost by a pin against freshman Conner Lamphier in 1:43. Meanwhile, in the 152-pound weight class, freshman Andrew Garrison put up a good fight against senior Trey Allen before losing by a pin in the third period in 5:16.

Of course the Pirates also had several bright spots in the match. At 160, junior Andrew Broyhill returned from a one-year hiatus to win by a pin against Brock Miller in 2:14. Meanwhile, after three straight opens at 160, 170 and 195, sophomore Halden Toomsen also returned to the met since his injury riddled freshman season to win by a pin over Tyler Jolly in the 220-pound weight class in 5:00.

Senior Brennan Hammers also picked up his first win of the young season in the 285-pound weight class with a first-period pin against Dalton Wiley in 2:00. Hammers is undefeated against Wiley in six matches.

Unfortunately for the Pirates, they had only one win for the rest of the night as sophomore Brandon Ashpaugh picked up a forfeit at 120.

Page 2 of 2 - In other matches, Quincy Banuet lost by a pin against Josh Gilkey in 1:24 in the 113-pound weight class. At 126, freshman Morgan Browning was pinned by Levi Kreie in 5:17. Meanwhile, at 132, sophomore Austin Hulbert was pinned by Skout Raney in 4:22.

In the junior varsity match, freshman Hunter Spaedy won by a pin in the 126-pound weight class against Nathan Hursman in 3:30. Freshman Devlin Carter also won by a pin against Syed Bukari in 1:18 in the 132-pound weight class. Meanwhile, in the 160-pound weight class, freshman Trenton Gerrard lost by a pin against Daitrion Buchanon in 45 seconds.

Stock said he felt good about the two wins on the night in the JV match. "Hunter is a first-year wrestler and I think wrestled really well for his first match ever," Stock said. "Devlin wrestled at the junior high for coach Francis and he has the basics down and is only going to get better."

The Boonville Pirates wrestling team will compete next in the Pleasant Hill Invitational Tournament on Friday and Saturday, Nov. 30 and Dec. 1.